Vending cabinet



April 1, 1930.

D. c. FoNDA 1,752,635

VENDING CABINET Filed March 11, 1927 oiljig, .1 and approximately onthe. line tion taken on the line 4 4;

Patented Apr. 1, 1930 mm sr r es; PATENT or c DOUGLASS C. FONDA, OF WESTORANGE,

nntawaan NEWJ'ERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO'NIXON VENDING AND CHANGE MAKINGMACHINES, INC.,

on NEW Yoniciw. Y., a oon'ronnrioivor VENDING CAIB'INE'IZ'Applicationfiled .March 11, 1927. Serial No. 174,549.

A; main. object of the, present; invention I is to provide, ,afcabinetinvolvinga construction 10 of means whereby the door elementwillbesecured. in closedposition againstaccess to the; goodscontained withinthe; cabinet, and whereby upon thjedeposit of a proper. purchase cointhe door. element may be readily 15. openedby :the purchaser, who is;-thereupon put; in;p0ssc Si n of. the goods purchased.

A nother objectof the inventionis to provide. a; cabinet. involving aconstruction of means; which will permit the .owner or his 20,authorized attendant to open the doorelement without the deposit of apurchase coin.

A. furtherobj ect of the invention is to provide for, a. cabinet .orsimilar article holding structure arnovel coinoperated door control hichwil be imple. Q Q i ma ufacture and highly .eflicientinuse;

Other objects. will. appear. hereinafter.

invention consists in the, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter; de-

30 scribedandclaimed.

The invention will be best understood. by reference; to, theaccompanying y forming. a part of this specification, andfin which vFig. 1 is a perspective View offa cabinet made. in accordance with thepresent invention; M

2..is a view, taken on a largerscale than the view 22 thereof; f

Fig. 3'represents a cross section taken on thevline, 353 or Fig. 2'; andV I Fig. 4 represents a fragmental vertical-secof. Fig. 2.-

Referring to the drawing, where. a selected embodiment of theinventionhas'been illustrated, 5, denotesa cabinet, or casing interiorly div'ded intofanup'p er, or stock coinpart:

ment a lower onmoney compart nent f drawing fragmentalverticaljsectional.

by a. floor 8'located'an. appreciable distance above the base plate 9.For closing the upper .or stock compartment a frontdoor 10-is employed,this door being preferably secured for opening and closing inovementby asuitedge. With this hinge is associated aspringl 12,,arranged toclosethe door automatically and to keep it closed at all times. Near itsfree edge the door 10 is provided with an. exterior knob 13fby which itis manually opened, and below'saidknob there is a coin deposit slot 14for receiving the purchase coins- For thelower-or money compartment 7which serves asa cash box, there is a front door 15. preferably hingedas at 16at its lower horizontaledge so as to open outwardly anddownwardly. For manually opening and closing the door-l5 a fingerpiece,17 is provided; andin order that'no one eX- cept the owner orauthorizedattendant may have access to thecash compartment, this door isequippedwith a. suitable key operated. lock 18. '7

In its preferred. formiof construction as illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, the coin operated control for the upper door 10comprises a coin holding structure including. oppositely disposedendwalls or jaws l9 and 20 arranged at the bottom ofzthe stockcompartment at the floor Sand spaced apart to receive snugly betweenthem the.Ypurchase coin as 21 as it drops from the downturned. end 22 ofthe coin chute 23 down which the coin has rolledon its circumferenceafter having been insertedthrough the coin deposit slot 14. The jaws 19;and20 as :wellasth'. chute 23 are supported uponwthe side 24. of.

able hinge 11 extending along. one vertical the cabinet, said side beingpreferably thick-.

' ened or built out at 25 for this purpose. The

jaw 19land chute 23 aremadefast to the cas-, ing side, while the-jaw20-is"niou nted for pivoting upon a stud 26. In the construction shown,the; portion 25 of the casing side con; stitutes a backingwallorsheet-forthe chute and for the coin pocket 27 between saidjaws 19 and-20 and defined atthe inner side by flanges 28 and 29' formed,respectively, on said jaws. To sustain the coin within thepocket andbetween the jaws,.the1pivotally mounted jaw 20 near its lower end isfurnished with a pin 30 which extends transversely of the coin engagingedge of said jaw at a suitable point inwardly of the free edge of theflange 29.

According to an important feature of the invention, the pivotallymounted jaw 20 is which is screw-threaded upwardly through the catchpiece. The jaw 20 is set or positioned so that a deposited coin ofproper denomination will drop into the pocket between the two jaws andbe sustained therebetween by the pin 30 when the hook rests upon theadjusting screw; and it will be observed in this connection that bymanipulating the adjusting screw the entrance gap between the jaws maybe finely adjusted. The hook is normally urged into engagement with itsseat and upon leaving its seat, into engagement with its notch, by aspring 36 held in tension by stud 26 and having one end attached at 37to the arm 31 and the other end extending over post 38 on jaw 19. Bythis arrangement, upon attempting to open the door 10 when there is nocoin between the jaws 19 and 20, the hook on leaving its seat will slipinto the notch. A slight outward movement of the door will thus resultin locking the door and preventing access to the stock compartment.When, on the other hand, a coin has been deposited and reposes betweenthe jaws, such deposited coin will maintain the pivotally mounted awagainst turning when the seat for the hook is withdrawn under theopening movement of the door, with the result that the hook will escapeengagement with the notch, permitting the door to be fully opened; andit will be noted in this connection that the lug or catch piece 34 ismade with an inclined abutment 39 with which the hook is engaged duringthe withdrawal of the catch piece, so that the pivotally mounted aw willbe turned in a direction to effect a discharge of the sustained coinduring the opening movement of the door. The discharged coin dropsthrough an opening 4 in the floor into the cash compartment below.

In order that the owner of the cabinet or his authorized attendant mayhave access to the stock compartment without inserting a purchase coin,the jaw 20 is furnished with a finger piece 41 which projects downwardlythrough the opening 40 into the cash compartment 7 where, upon unlockingand opening the door 15, it may be seized so as to manually maintain thejaw 20 until the door 10 has been opened.

As previously pointed out, the door 10 is When the door 10 has beenopened far enough to give free access to the stock compartment, the hookwill drop down over the inner end 42 of the catch piece, which inner endwill thereupon act as a stop preventing the closing of the door untilthe hook, through the manual pivoting of the jaw 20, has been raisedagain to clear said inner end. hen,

therefore, the door 10 is notcompletely closed, it is an indication thatthe stock has been sold.

Preferably and as shown, a shield 43 is ar ranged about the chute, jawsand associated parts so as to protect the same. The stock compartmentmay be subdivided inany manner desired and the door 10 is preferablyprovided with a glass pane 44 through which the stock may be observed.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form ofconstruction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable ofvariation and modification without departing from the spirit of theinvention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precisedetails of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of suchvariations and modifications as come within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A vendin cabinet having a door attached thereto for opening andclosing movement and provided witha catch piece; and a coin holdingpocket structure within the cabinet including a, swingable end wallhaving thereona projecting hooked arm adapted to rest upon said catchpiece to maintain said end wall in place for admitting a coin into saidpocket structure when said door is closed and adapted also to be itselfmaintained in position from where it will automatically interlock withsaid catch piece consequent upon the opening movement of said door,substantially as described.

2. A vending cabinet having a door attached thereto for opening andclosing movement and provided with a catch piece; a coin holding pocketstructure within the cabinet including a swingable end wallhavingthereona projecting hooked arm adapted to rest upon said catch piece tomaintain. said end wall in place for the reception of a coin in saidpocket structure when said door is closed and adapted also to be itselfmaintained in position from where it will automatically slide intointerlocking engagement with said catch piece consequent upon theopening movement of said door; and said end wall with its hooked armbeing adapted to be sustained independently of said catch piece by acoin in said pocket structure to prevent such interlocking action,substantially as described.

3. In a vending cabinet, a door mounted for opening andclosingmovementaprojection on said door provided with a notch and a slideway; a coinholding pocket structure including a swingable end wall; a projectinghooked arm on said end wall adapted to have support on said projectionto maintain said end wall .in place for the reception of a coin in saidpocket structure when said door is closed and adapted also to be itselfmaintained in position from where it will pass downward and upward onsaid slideway into and out of interlocking engagement with said notchconsequent upon the opening and closing movement of said door,substantially as described.

4. In a vending cabinet, the combination with an openable door providedwith a catch, of coin holding mechanism including a pivotally mountedjaw; a projecting arm on said 'aw by which to turn the same on its pivotand ooked to have interlocking action with said catch consequent uponthe opening movement of said door; and an adjustable element car ried bysaid catch and constituting a rest for said hooked arm to adjust theposition of said jaw and hooked arm, substantially as described.

5. In a vending cabinet, the combination with an openable door and aside plate, of a coin deposit chute constructed with said side plate andhaving a downturned delivery end; a pair of spaced jaws associated withsaid side plate to constitute a coin receiving pocket therewith at thedelivery end of the chute, one of said jaws being fixed and the otherbeing pivoted; an arm extending from the pivoted jaw; a projection onsaid openable door constituting a support for said arm including anadjustable element for critically adjusting the pivoted jaw relativelyto the fixed aw; and spring means for placing the pivoted aw undertension to urge said arm into engagement with the adjustable element,substantially as described.

6. In combination, an openable door a side sheet; a pair of spaced jawsassociated therewith to constitute a coin receiving pocket; one of saidjaws being fixed to said sheet and the other being pivoted thereto;flanges on the confronting ends of said aws in oppose relation to saidsheet; a transversepin fixed on the pivoted jaw inwardly of the freeedge of its flange for engagin the circumference of a coin entered intosai pocket and thereby to retain the same between said jaws; aprojection on said openable door for maintaining said pivoted jaw in setposition; and means for swinging said pivoted jaw from set position,substantially as described.

7. A vending cabinet comprising a door with a catch; a coin receivingpocket structure including a pivotally mounted end wall having anoutwardly projecting hooked arm adapted to interlock with said catch;said end wall being pivoted near its top end with its depending lowerportion swingable inwardly of the pocket structure; said hooked armbeing normally supported at its free end on said catch so that, upon theopening movement of the door, it will swing into interlocking engagementwith said catch as said lower portion swings inwardly of the pocketstructure; said lower portion being adapted to abut on a coin introducedinto the pocket structure and thereby to serve as a stop for preventingswinging movement of the end wall in a direction to effect engagement ofthe hooked arm with said catch, substantially as described.

8. A vending cabinet comprising a door with a catch; a coin receivingpocket structure including a pivotally mounted end wall having anoutwardly projecting hooked arm adapted to interlock with said catch;said end wall being pivoted near its top end with its depending lowerportion swingable inwardly of the pocket structure; said hooked armbeing normally supported at its free end on said catch so that, upon theopening movement of the door it will swing into interlocking engagementwith said catch as said lower portion swings inwardly of the pocketstructure; said lower portion being adapted to abut on a coin introducedinto the pocket structure and thereby to serve as a stop for preventingswinging movement of the end wall in a direction to effect engagement ofthe hooked arm with said catch; and a finger piece on said end wall bywhich manually to swing the same on its pivot, substantially asdescribed.

9. A vending cabinet comprising a door with a catch; a coin receivingpocket structure including a pivotally mounted end wall having anoutwardly projecting hooked arm adapted to interlock with said catch;said end wall being pivoted near its top end with its depending lowerportion swingable inwardly of the pocket structure; said hooked armbeing normally supported at its free end on said catch so that, upon theopening movement of the door, it will swinginto interlocking engagementwith said catch as said lower portion swings inwardly of the pocketstructure; means on said lower portion for sustaining a coin introducedinto the pocket structure; said lower portion being adapted to abut on acoin sustained in the pocket structure and thereby to serve as a stopfor preventing swinging movement of the end wall in a direction toeffect engagement of the hooked arm with said catch, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

DOUGLASS G. FONDA.

